A 65,000-seat football stadium for the Raiders is just one
component in Hollywood Park's plan to "transform" its racetrack
facility into a "year-round sports and entertainment complex."
Hollywood Park Inc. recently built a golf range and card casino
adjacent to its racetrack on the 345-acre Inglewood, CA, site.
Ground will be broken next month on a shopping center and plans
call for a music center to be built as well. R.D. Hubbard,
Hollywood Park Chair and CEO: "We want Inglewood to be the place
where L.A. comes to play." Analysts say the plan is based on the
park's "need to lure young, upscale customers who normally are
not drawn to racetracks." Steven Weinress, a partner at L.H.
Friend, Weinress & Frankson Inc., says the large number of non-
racing days is also an incentive for expansion: "(Hubbard's)
whole concept is to turn it into a year-round destination site"
(Walter Hamilton, L.A. DAILY NEWS, 12/21).
PROBLEMS: But "major obstacles" exist in the path of a new
football stadium at Hollywood Park, according to a report in the
L.A. TIMES. Financial hurdles, competition with L.A., a lack of
commitment from the NFL and difficulty in dealing with Raiders
Owner Al Davis are what they face. "The big question is
Hollywood Park's ability to take on a huge new venture" (Reich &
Mulligan, L.A. TIMES, 12/21).

BET President Robert Johnson reasserted his opposition to a
plan for a new D.C. arena proposed by the National Capital
Development Corp. in an op-ed in today's WASHINGTON POST.
Johnson defended his own plan for a privately-funded arena and
emphasized his desires for an agreement giving him minority
ownership in Abe Pollin's Capitals and Bullets in exchange for
BET funding the arena. Johnson: "If citizens, businesspeople and
sports fans really want to save the arena, they should encourage
Mr. Pollin and BET to work out a mutually agreeable deal to bring
the teams to a D.C. arena complex" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/21).

A study by the MILWAUKEE SENTINEL claims a new stadium for
the Brewers would "put the team on a more solid economic
footing." The study assumes that the stadium would be built by a
public authority and the Brewers would pay rent and maintain and
make other contributions to the stadium. The SENTINEL's plan
proposes raising funds through a sports lottery and a 0.25% tax
on restaurant meals -- two options outlined last month by the
Greater Milwaukee Committee. Although financing through these
means "would fall about $5.9 million short of the annual debt
service on bonds needed to build the facility," the shortfall
could be made up through "rent and stadium revenue and still
leave the Milwaukee Brewers with a positive cash flow."
Projections estimate the team drawing 2.6M fans to a convertible-
roof stadium with ticket prices similar to Baltimore's Camden
Yards. These figures would raise team revenue by $27M. The team
is dependant on the city, according to the report: "Even if the
Brewers used every dollar of positive cash flow the stadium
produced for them, they still could not borrow enough money to
finance the stadium themselves." Under the plan, the stadium
would be rented to the Brewers by an authority created by the WI
Legislature. Brewers General Counsel Wendy Selig-Preib: "We
can't do it alone" (Lank & Haudricourt, MILWAUKEE SENTINEL,
12/20).

The Saints recently signed a new lease that will keep them
in the Superdome through the year 2018. It also gave the team
more revenue from concessions and all revenue from the sale of
luxury boxes. Today, we examine the lease of the Saints at the
Louisiana Superdome.

Fairfax County, VA, officials revealed 12 possible sites for
a stadium they hope to build for a baseball expansion team for
Northern VA. The sites are spread throughout the county, with
officials saying an ideal site would be "more than 100 acres,
close to a major highway and an existing or planned rail system."
A 33-member committee will narrow the list down to "two or three"
preferred sites within a month. Loudoun County has also
identified two sites for a potential stadium. Outgoing Fairfax
Board Chair Tom Davis, who will represent the area in Congress
starting in '95, has said the estimated $250M needed for a
facility would be paid for "almost completely with money
generated by the development" (Eric Lipton, WASHINGTON POST,
12/21).